St Helens summit 1/29/15

[Sly]

Took a buddy out for their first Washington mountain. Was a beautiful day to be outside, but the snow conditions were not good. No considerable amount of snow until 6000'. Put crampons on around 6500'. With the warm temps, existing snow became soft and unstable, so we did not waste time on our descent- got a few nice glissades in but did have to pay attention to exposed rocks on the ridges. During our limited amount of time on the mountain we saw many rocks tumble off the ridges.

Here are two views into the crater, picture on the top was taken Jan 1st, 2015, while the picture on the bottom was taken Jan 29th, 2015.

[AaronPDX]

What a difference a month makes! Nice comparative photos.